Mar 5-7 - behind again !

It's so easy to fall behind ! 

On the 5th ... I did stuff ... I have no idea !!

On the 6th ... I rode ... that's easy.  It was a beautiful day with winds from the south.

On the 7th ... we went to MIA for our Global Entry interviews.

The most interesting of this is yesterday, and since it was more recent, I actually remember it ! 

We left here about 7:45 and arrived at Miami International Airport around 11:30.  The instructions were pretty good to find the location -- Level 2 Departures across from Lufthansa, and we arrived just before our noon and 12:15 appointments.  Walking in the door, we were informed that their system was down nationwide and they had no idea when it would be back up.  Oh great!  We sat down to give it some time, caught up on emails etc. and then headed out to the departures area to find somewhere to eat lunch.

The officers were handing out slips that would allow you to jump the queue, as it were, if you came back another day.  Those slips were only good for MIA.  I was hoping for a slip that would get me into Orlando or Sanford, but no such luck.  MIA is one of the airports that handles walk-ins; not Orlando or Sanford.

We had lunch and headed back, finding that the system was back up !  I wasn't surprised.  Even though the officers had been told "could be hours or perhaps even the next day" that was system-speak for "we don't know" and "we're not making any promises" and "we're working at this as hard as we can but y'know there's a snowstorm outside".

Anyway, we were back in queue, had our interviews side-by-side, which consisted of confirming some of the information that we'd submitted and taking left and right hand and thumbprints.  There were no facial scans (that I know of) or retinal scans, no DNA samples ...

The information submitted for Global Entry was much more comprehensive than for TSA Pre, so the interview was actually more cursory. 

When I started this process the implication was that GE could take months.  As a result, we also went through with TSA Pre, even though GE includes TSA Pre.  It doesn't include Nexus though; that's separate and only applies to Canada/US/Mexico.  However, as of late yesterday, we're live on GE.  Eventually we'll get an ID card but that doesn't really do anything.  The process for entering the country from a flight will allow us to use a Global Entry kiosk, scan our passport and read our fingerprints and take us out of the general melee. 

I'll get to test this out when I return from Brazil. I'll also be TSA Pre on the way out, using the KTN (Known Traveler Number) assigned by GE.  MIA is a great place to use GE because otherwise it's a zoo coming back in from South America !

It's too bad that this has no bearing on Canada ... where most of our 2018 travels will originate and culminate.  Oh well.  GE is good for up to 5 years; in fact it's good until the last birthdate within 5 years so Sandy's expires a few months before mine.  I was reading something about GE returning to the US by car; I'll have to ask the officer about that when we next drive into the US.

When we got back home, two 15 minute interviews, a crummy lunch and 8 hours of driving later, Jim and Sheryl were here.  Cassie had been well looked after.  She was happy as always to see us ... or anyone !

Sandy whipped up a stir-fry for dinner and I had the monthly RUSA call at 8pm. 

I do remember something from earlier in the week ... I'd taken the M5 over to Holmes who ended up giving up, with my encouragement.  The car needs new intake cam sensors, so it seems and their system that gives them guidance on working on every engine under the sun doesn't include this engine.  Doing online research, it seems that it's a 30-60 minute job for the engine passenger side and 5 hours for the driver's side.  Without some notion of where this might lead, discretion was the better part of valor.  I've got a call into a guy that I've used before who is located in Daytona.  Although it will pain my wallet, I might have to use the dealer.  Ugh.  Oh well, this car has been basically maintenance free for the most part for 17 years.  I can't complain.

Onward !